


Beginnings (A Close Call)

by gunsavvybookworm



Series: It's The End of the World and Nobody Invited Us [1]
Category: XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: ADVENT sends a retaliatory strike on a small village, Blood, F/F, Violence, XCOM does its thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-05 09:30:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10303517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gunsavvybookworm/pseuds/gunsavvybookworm
Summary: Saiko Itsumi has a very close brush with death and has her own guardian angel.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ACTUAL STORY ATTEMPT!!

The heat is oppressive in the fields a few kilometers outside Laotian resistance camp. It’s not the heat, not really, it's the humidity.  
But that's what she gets for hopping on the first smuggler boat out of Japan six months ago.

Saiko wiped the sweat from her brow and adjusted the sack of fruit on her back to allow her fatigued shoulders some reprieve before she made her final trek back to the small community of Pha Vihan Khong Pamai.  
She hoped she's saying it right after 5 months of the locals laughing at her abysmal Laotian.

The rest of the working party had gone on without them.  
But she couldn't abandon her friend could she?  
“Jeez, it looks like you're about to die. It wasn't that bad of a hike, was it?” She said to the only person she talked to regularly in the village.  
He was a young Japanese boy, not much more than 14 or so, named Watanabe Yuuto.  
“Come on… Have a heart….I'm dying here.”  
He was the only person she had bothered to get to know on the trip to the camp.  
As far as she knew, he had no family left, so she picked up the mantle of “big sister”.  
Or mom.  
Both?  
Either way, she had to deal with his teenage mood swings and complaining, when she herself was barely 20.  
She ruffled his hair.  
“Come on slow poke it's only 3km till we get home, and I'm carrying like twice what you are.”

He scowled at her and straightened his back.  
“Saiko you're killing me here.”  
She started back down the trail, chuckling at his groan.  
“If I was actually killing you, I'd probably be home by now. So don't give me any ideas you big baby.”

  
The the next two or so kilometers went by smoothly as the oppressive afternoon heat finally begin to the cool evening breeze.  
Saiko felt like something was...off.  
“Hey, didn't they crawl our asses when we tried to have a fire at night?”  
Yuuto looked at her with confusion.  
“Uh...I think so. Why?”  
Her heart dropped.  
“Because there's a big fire. Coming from the direction of the village.”  
His eyes went wide and they dropped their bags and both sprinted as hard as they could for the village.  
That's when they heard the shots. The tell tale report of ADVENT mag rifles.  
“Fuck. Yuuto remember that place we talked about? In case this happened? Go there. Now.”  
He was scared shitless, that much was obvious.  
“What about you?? Where are you going??”  
She drew her pistol out of her thigh holster, an old Glock 19, and made sure there was a round in the chamber.  
“There's more kids there. I can't leave them. So go you stubborn kid, and be there in case there's no other adults, okay?”  
“But-”  
She turned to the sounds of fighting.  
“Go. Please. If I'm not back in two hours… Just go okay?”

She made sure he was well gone before she jogged to the village.  
The firing had stopped at about the time she reached the outskirts of the village.  
There were fires and bodies everywhere as she slowly advanced through the charred remains of one of the houses.  
They'd killed everyone.  
The nice lady who always made her bread.  
Mr. Miyato, who always teased her about her tattoos.  
All of them were gone.  
Her heart was hammering in her ears as she saw some faint outlines through some of the smoke.  
She quietly took cover behind the thick wall that remained unburned and watched them.  
She heard the...wrong sound of the ADVENT troopers’ voices conversing in their strange tongue.  
It just seemed so...unnatural.  
Her cold hatred for them rose once again in her chest as she gripped the pistol until her knuckles were white.  
Focus. Find survivors. Get back to Yuuto. Find a new home.  
She took a breath and kept creeping along, using the smoke and fire to mask her movements as she searched any possible hiding place.

After roughly an hour of ducking around the ADVENT patrols and their accompanying Sectoid handlers her luck ran out.

“FuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!!”  
She dashed behind the remnants of the stone well and loosed three poorly aimed shots at her three pursuers. She wasn’t expecting to hit anything, she just needed them to keep their heads down so she could escape.  
Somehow.  
The heavy thuds of their mag rifles’ slugs hitting the stone at least told her she had a couple seconds to think while they fired away.

She popped up and fired twice more, actually hitting one of them in the face.  
The sound of it gurgling and choking on its own blood gave her a sick sense of satisfaction.  
But she'd stayed up too long.  
Before she could return to cover, she felt the heavy slugs of a mag rifle slam into her left shoulder.  
She hit the ground with a heavy thud as her arm and abdomen exploded in pain and the blood stained the dark ground.  
She managed to roll over and lean against the cool stone.  
The sounds of the troopers’ heavy foot falls came closer and closer.  
She gripped her pistol tighter and coughed up blood.  
This isn't good. Not good at all. Sorry Yuuta.  
“Welp. This sucks.”  
She felt the warm blood run down her arm and closed her eyes.  
At least she took one of them with her.  
She rolled over, bringing her pistol up with her good arm, and just as she was about to pull the trigger.  
The two trooper’s heads exploded. Literally.  
The rounds must have been massive because she could have swore she saw smoke trails behind the rounds.  
As the two troopers crumpled lifelessly to the ground, Saiko fell to her knees as the dizziness of shock and blood loss overtook her.  
She registered that she a hand touched her shoulder and a muffled “Are you okay?” But the darkness began at the edge of her vision and she felt so sleepy.  
“Well...that's not good.” She said lazily.  
And before she finally passed out, she saw the prettiest pair of green eyes she'd ever seen.

\----

Lucy always got the shakes before a combat drop.  
It never seems to fail.  
She’d been on five separate combat drops to date and on each one she couldn't help but get shaky.  
This one was different though.  
She’d heard of ADVENT terror strikes, but being a part of the XCOM response was...different.  
They could see the fires already.  
Lt. Sandra “Warlord” Whitemoore stood and conversed with the pilot before she turned back and threw up a ‘3’.  
The older woman had an intimidating appearance.  
She was missing one eye, courtesy of their enemy, and had the cold stare of someone who had seen far too much death.  
“THREE MINUTES! WE’RE DROPPING HOT! LOCK AND LOAD!”  
The six person squad replied with various sounds of rounds being chambered and magnetic coils warming up.

Lucy powered up her GREMLIN and let it float about and warm up its small anti gravity pads while she did a diagnostic on its systems.

“Good evening Corporal Wilson. I’m guessing it's now time to work?” The small drone said in its pleasant, friendly voice.  
“You got it Greg. We might have our work cut out for us.”  
Her GREMLIN had a more advanced AI than most, all due to her tinkering and a thorough ass chewing from Shen.

She didn't care than “it was against regs”, she needed an assistant intelligent enough to help triage wounded people.  
And “Greg” could.

The lights in the cabin switched to red and all conversation stopped.  
“THIRTY SECONDS! HIT THE DECK, FIND COVER, AND TERMINATE ALL HOSTILES. REMEMBER, WE ARE LOOKING FOR SURVIVORS SO KEEP THE DOC IN THE LOOP!” Lt. Whitemoore bellowed over the sound of the opening cargo hatch.

All the troopers nodded in agreement and the one team’s sharpshooters made his way to the seat next to Lucy.  
“You're shaking again.”  
She rolled her eyes as D punched her shoulder playfully.  
“Believe me, I know. Hey, D, keep an eye out for any live ones okay? I don't want my first “rescue” mission to be a village of corpses.”  
Their forward momentum stopped and the ropes dropped from the automatic latches in front of the ramp.  
D gave her a thumbs up, pulled the black bandana over his face, and when the light turned green, him and all the others left for the ropes.  
Ten seconds later they hit the mud and got to work.

In the initial five minutes, the team had eliminated an entire squad of ADVENT troopers and at least three of their Sectoid handlers with only very minor wounds.

As they advanced into the torched remains of the village, however, they quickly realized that the odds of them finding any survivors at all was...remote.  
They checked every house they came across only to find either the charred remains of their inhabitants or the blood soaked bodies of those who tried to fight back with old AKs and ARs.  
Might as well have been stones.

After 45 minutes of fruitlessly searching for survivors; D and his fellow sharpshooter went ahead of the group to scout for any more ADVENT trooper.  
If they couldn't save anyone, they could at least avenge those who tried to fight back.  
They set up in a two story hut near the center of town and began scanning the the area, looking for targets.  
Up until they heard the distinct pop of an old pistol nearby.

“Blue-One this is Blue-Five we've got a survivor here. About three hundred meters north of you. Being chased by three hostiles. They've got her pinned by an old well. Orders?”  
Lt. Whitemoore keyed the mic and gave the hand signal for the team to haul ass.  
Even one life saved would make the mission worthwhile.  
“The second they come into view you have permission to fire Blue-Five. Keep that civvie alive.”

They sprinted as fast as caution would allow, with Wilson in the front, followed by Lucy, Sgt. Vasquez the heavy weapons specialist, and Cpl. Michaels the EXO heavy.  
They threw caution to the wind when they heard the pop of the old pistol, followed by high pitched crack of an ADVENT mag gun.  
“Fuck! Warlord hurry your ass up! That civvie just caught some lead! We don't have a fucking shot...wait...there were go. Brian get ready.”  
They entered the open space just as the heavy crack of D and Brian’s neatly decapitated the two ADVENT troopers.

Lucy sprinted to the woman and got to her just as she collapsed to her knees.  
She tossed her pistol away and eased the woman onto her back and got to work trying to stop her from bleeding to death.  
“Ma’am are you okay?”  
Before she passed out woman passed out, she muttered something about pretty green eyes.  
“Greg, help me stabilize her! Start a scan! Make sure there's nothing internal!”  
The blue light rapidly walked over the woman’s body as Lucy ripped her shirt to get a better look at the abdomen wound.  
“No internal organ damage Cpl. Wilson. However, she had an artery nicked and lost quite a lot of blood. Recommend immediate extraction.”

“Blue Five make sure we don't have any surprises sneak up on us. The rest of you, get any usable tech or armor. We are gone as soon as Cpl. Wilson stabilizes the civ.”  
The others spread out and did as they were told.

“LT! CALL THE SKYRAIDER! She's as stable as she's gonna get!” Lucy called as she finished tying the pressure bandage to the woman’s stomach and Greg spread coagulant on her shoulder.  
The woman stirred from the burning of the chemicals and groaned in pain.  
“Don't worry. You're gonna make it. We got to you in time. Just hang in there.”

\---

  
Burning.  
Why was her shoulder burning?  
And her stomach hurt so much.  
What happened?  
She heard...a jet engine?  
I thought there was supposed to be a light?  
Saiko opened her eyes and she swore she saw an angel.  
In hindsight, seeing Lucy with the spotlight of the Skyraider behind her as she saved her life would probably have that effect on anyone.  
But she was delirious from blood loss and shock.  
“Hey there...are...are you supposed to be the one to escort me through the pearly gates? You must be the prettiest angel they have amiright?”

The woman smiled and told her she wasn't dying today.  
That they got to her in time.  
Saiko felt light headed again and the woman gave her a shot.  
“H..hey if I live….would you wanna go out with me?”  
She passed out again before before she could hear an answer.

 

 


	2. A Rocky Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saiko wakes in an unfamiliar place and meets a rather annoyed medic

There were fires and screaming.  
Saiko was running for Yuuta as hard as her legs could let her.  
But she just couldn’t catch him. It was like she was waist deep in mud.  
   
“Yuuta!! Come here!! Yuuta!!!”  
He turned and entered a burning hut just as she got to him.  
   
Saito cautiously opened the door and cautiously called his name but he wasn’t there.  
   
He wasn’t anywhere.  
“Yuuta? Buddy where are you at?”  
She turned and saw him covered in blood.  
“Why did you leave me to die, Saiko? I trusted you.”  
She went pale. Ghost white pale.  
“N-no. Yuuta...I-I didn’t….”  
There was a loud CRACK and then another and she felt blinding pain in her arm and stomach.  
Yuuta was holding her smoking pistol.  
   
Saiko woke up screaming and covered in sweat.  
She was disoriented and scared in a dark room. Alone. And that she was in some seriously deep shit.  
She’d never been in this place before and the tech was way more advanced than any of the local villages. Ooooo fuck. Ohhhhhhh fuck. Fuckfuckfuck. I’m in an ADVENT facility. Oh shit. Okay Saiko think. THINK! Okay. First. Where am I and how do I get out?  
She pulled all the tubes and needles out of her arm and the heart monitor let out the high pitched tone when she removed the pad on her arm. She heard the hydraulic door open and someone flipped on the lights, briefly blinding her. Shit.  
“What the fuck are you doing you dumbass? Oh my god, who the hell pulls out their IVs?!”  
Wait what? That didn’t sound like an ADVENT nurse. Or an ADVENT anything.  
“Wait what? Who…what…where am I?”  
Saiko’s eyes finally adjusted and she saw the nurse standing in front of her with dark bags under her green eyes and a scowl that rivaled her own mother’s. Which was horrifying.  
The woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose and for the first time in a long time, Saiko felt very, very small. “Get back in bed and let me hook you back up before you die, and then I’ll answer your questions okay?”  
Saiko reluctantly and silently slid back into the bed and flinched when the needles were reinserted into her arms. An uncomfortable silence passed before Saiko built up the nerve to speak. “So… I assume you’re not ADVENT….right?” The woman froze for a moment before making sure the IV drip was still working properly. “Nope.”  
Not a people person then?  
“So… um… where am I? I remember the two troopers getting shot, and then everything goes black.”  
The woman went through the motions of checking her vitals while she spoke.  
“You, my lucky IV pulling moron, are on the Avenger, the mobile base of the resistance. Or better known as, XCOM. We hoped to save your village…but you were the only one we could save.”  
Saiko blinked.  
“Wait, wait, wait…I was the only one? Fuck are we close? I need to go back! There’s a boy in a cave, I’m watching over him!! He’s only about fourteen!”  
Saiko started to get out of the bed before being harshly pushed back down.  
“Listen!! Not only would you die before you even got close, but we checked every cave, basement, and brush pile we saw within a 1 km square area of that village with drones and troops. We only found corpses and none of them were a young boy.”  
Saiko slumped and looked down at her lap before the tears slowly came. And they came. She had let everyone die.  
Her mom.  
Her dad.  
Her only sister.  
And now the only thing that had given her a reason to not swallow a bullet.  
The woman seemed to take pity on her at this point and sat on the bed next to her, waiting for her to calm down. “Listen… Hey…”  
In hindsight, had Saiko not been having an emotional meltdown, she probably wouldn’t have hugged a total stranger and cried into their arm. But there she was. Hugging a total stranger. At least she smelled nice. Faintly of grapes. “There, there… let it out. There we go.”  
Saiko sniffled and blushed when she realized the woman was….extremely uncomfortable.  
You idiot.  
“Sorry.” She said with a hiccup and let her go.  
The woman pat her head and got off the bed, looking like she couldn’t possibly feel more awkward if she tried. “It’s okay. I understand this has to be rough.” She straightened her shirt out and began walking to the door. “I’m going to send D in to watch you next okay? He’s more of a… people person. He likes talking so you can ask him all the questions you want.”  
Saiko didn’t really want her to go. Sure she was a bit…short, but there was something about her that made Saiko feel…rather nice. She was gorgeous for sure with her emerald green eyes, chestnut brown hair pulled into a ponytail, slightly tanned skin, and a soft voice.  
I don’t even know her name.  
“Wait!...Um…can I have your name?” She stopped mid stride and turned halfway around with not exactly a frown on her face.  
“Lucy Wilson. Yours?”  
“I’m Saiko. Saiko Itsumi.”  
   
   
“Jeez Lucy, I know you haven’t slept in a day but you went in… kinda heavy.”  
Lucy rolled her eyes at D, who looked well rested for his shift to watch Saiko. Central deemed it necessary since she was an unknown and they couldn’t let her just…waltz around the ship when she got well enough to do so.  
“Oh, fuck off D.” Lucy was far from in a good mood. Not only did that idiot rip her IVs and monitors out, waking her from her 20 minute nap, but she touched her. Lucy couldn’t stand being touched without permission. That damn girl was lucky she didn’t get hit.  
D laughed and shook his head at his very cranky friend. “Alright you cranky little fuck, go get some sleep before you hurt the already hurt patient.”  
Lucy threw up a very obscene hand gesture and made her way to her office/bedroom. Maybe she had been a little harsh to a person who was a bonafide refugee now. Who had surely lost friends. And her home. Shit. Okay maybe I’m a bit of a bitch. Whatever.   
The hydraulic door to her quarters slide open and she flung herself on the almost too hard bed and groaned with exhaustion.  
“Surely your day wasn’t that bad Cpl. Wilson.” Said Greg, from its charging dock as it floated up to greet her.  
Lucy huffed as the little robot floated over to her while humming a tune in it’s pleasantly light voice.  
“Easy for you to say Greg. You don’t need sleep. Or caffeine.”  
Lucy rolled over and sat up to pat the little bot as it scanned her for any health issues. “Cpl. Wilson, need I remind you that I’m not a dog?”  
She smiled at the bot’s annoyance and indignation.  
“And need I remind you that you don’t need to scan me eight times per day?”  
Greg continued its scanning and stopped when its checkup was complete and a little light flashed green, indicating she had a clean bill of health.  
“It seems you are in good health Corporal. Though I do recommend you get at least eight hours of sleep and a proper meal. Your blood pressure is elevated and your posture has slackened, not to mention your body is showing signs of malnutrition.”  
“Yes mom.”  
As annoying as the little bot could be, she had to admit that it felt nice for someone to look after her well-being. Even if it was a bot of her design.  
“Go help D look after the patient you irksome little bot. I’m hitting the sack and I don’t want you scanning me twelve more times in my sleep.”  
The bot “nodded” and floated toward the door, still humming tunelessly.  
Finally.   
After a quick shower, and a meager meal of two protein bars, Lucy passed out on her bed.  
But it was far from a restful sleep as her dreams were filled with the accusatory looks of thousands. Tens of thousands.  
That she killed.  
 


End file.
